Sega has just announced that Phantasy Star 0 for the Nintendo DS is coming to the US and Europe in 2009. The game features online and local wi-fi co-op play for four players and takes place on an alternate Earth in the Phantasy Star Universe.
Fans of Ikaruga, which we reviewed here, will find this news interesting. It appears that Ikaruga is not the only acclaimed shooter from Treasure that Microsoft wants on Xbox Live Arcade. Radiant Silvergun, which many feel is the best shoot em up of all time, is on Microsoft's wish list. (Ours too, for that matter; copies of the game are quite pricey on Ebay.) MS approached Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa about porting the Arcade/Sega Saturn title over to their service.
CES2009 wrapped up this week, and one of the games on display was the upcoming Halo RTS from Microsoft. The sneaky CES ninjas have video taped some in game footage showing off unit management and a few battles. It's not much, but it's probably the most raw in game footage seen to date. Hopefully this holds you over until the demo is released on February 5th.
With the impending DLC coming this week, Fable 2 has gotten it's much needed patch. No, not the patch to fix the horrible co-op implementation, a patch to fix up the numerous glitches and such.
Did you like Puzzle Quest? Of course you did. Did lord Diablo tickle your fancy? I know, silly question. Now what if we combined those two games? It may sound odd, but that's exactly what Puzzle Quest developer Infinite Interactive is doing in Deathbringer for the PC, 360, PS3 and Wii.
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is this week in Vegas, and there's quite a bit of gadget news to be found. But beyond the gadgets at the show are plenty of gaming news as well. Here's what's on tap this week.
It's a snowy weekend here in the Northeast, which makes it perfect for playing games. Here's what the staff around Co-Optimus HQ will be playing.
Today, we begin a new series of articles here at Co-Optimus. You might have noticed that Co-Op Classics went to Fridays biweekly during the holiday news frenzy. It will keep that schedule, and now, we'll have a new column for you on the off-Fridays. This column will be dedicated to Family and Casual gaming. In true co-op fashion, we want your input into the name for the column! We'll even give you some swag, but more about that later... Two separate though closely related types of gamers will be the focus of this column: the casual gamer and the young gamer. The rise of the casual gamer is fairly well documented at this point in video game history. Additionally, those of us who grew up during the early days of video gaming are having kids now, and it's only natural that we want to play with our kids. Co-op is a great fit for both of these types of players. Working together, and not as opponents, is more desirable in these situations. Playing Deathmatch in Halo 3 with your wife is not likely to keep her coming back. Similarly, no kid wants to get defeated by their parent over and over in Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Playing through these titles in co-op mode, though, will be more enjoyable, both for the hardcore gamer and the newbie. Let's discuss what we mean by 'casual gamer'. To put it succinctly, we're talking about the Wii crowd. Those who own only a Wii, that is, not a Wii in addition to other systems. A grandma who plays PopCap games would be an example of a casual gamer, too. Maybe this person plays solitaire on their computer at work. They don't know what a FPS or RPG is. Puzzle games and party games are going to be very appealing to these people, due to their easy learning curve. The "training" genre of games for the Nintendo DS are appealing to this type of gamer, too. They may not play many different games, but they get a lot of use out of the ones they purchase.
Take a second look -- this is not another Ghostbusters post. This is Criterion's Friday blog update, and it pretty much rocks. Yeah.
Blizzard has released a handful of Diablo 3 screenshots today for your viewing pleasure. Because Blizzard is tired of people complaining about too many colors they took all the color away and instead created a "paint by numbers" mode where you can fill in your own colors.
Is this image overused? Yeah, probably. Nevertheless, co-op gaming is on the rise, thanks in part to efforts like the Live Co-Op Night, the Games For Windows Co-Op Night, and the enthusiasm of gamers everywhere who see online and local gaming as an opportunity to collaborate rather than compete.
Just a reminder, today is the last day you can enter to win a Rock Band 2 Special Edition bundle through our Goozex promo.
